Glass-house furnace



l UNITED STATES PATE JOSEPH J. GILL, OFSTEUBENVLLE, OHIO.

GLAss"HoUsE FURNACE.

`;`SPECIFIOATION `forming part of `Letters Patent No. 224,896, dated February 24:, 1880.

` Application led January 13,1880.

n `useful Improvementin Glass-House Furnaces;

and I do herebydeclare the following `to be a full, clear, concise, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making` a part of this specification, in whichlike letters indicating like parts-T.

Figure 1 is an end view or elevation of so much of a gas-burning glass-house furnace as is necessary for present purposes of illustration. Fig. 2 is a transverse vertical sectional viewof my improved furnace in the plane of theline rc m, Fig. 4. Fig. 3 isa like view in theplane of the line w', Fig. 4. Fig. 4t is a longitudinal vertical section in the plane of the line z z, Fig. l; and Fig. 5 is a detached vie\v,in perspective, of the central pier.

`While some or all of the novel features herein described are applicable to gas-burnerected on raised foundations A', so asfto pro` vide the usual ash-pit or cave below the gratebars.`

"At B B, I have shown two gas-producers, which may `be of any suitable "construction with reference to driving off from fuel therein combustible gases and vapors at a comparatively high temperature. Afeed or stoke hole is shown at b in the ends bof" the producers, and grate-bars at b2, all of any approved construction. These gas-producing chambers are covered eachlby an arched roof, D. From each producer a Hue, g, leads to a combustion-cham-` ber, G, which, atits upper end, opens, by the usual eye g', onto the bench, -`or leads to other places Where the heat is to be used. Over each` producer I` carry up a second arch,D, but` at such distance above the first arches, D, as to leave room for an air-chamber, D2, which .is designed for `use both as an air-heating chamber and as an air-conduit flue, so that air admitted either at the ends or sides of the arch at one or more openings, d, may come in contact with the entire upper surface of the lower arch, D, be heated by such contact, and,

beingraised to a high temperature, may pass through the openings d to the combustionchamber G, where, mingling with the gases and vapors received from the producers, a vivid combustion takes place with the evolution of intense heat. These holes or openings d and d' may be made in any desired number or order, but preferably they are each of small area, and are distributed substantially as shown, the holes d being arranged on all sides of. the combustion-chamber.

Heretofore furnaces of this class have commonly been built with several separate air-conduit flues for conducting the air from without to the combustion-chamber, which iiues were n divided one from another by intervening or partition walls built in the space between the arch over the producer and the bench above; or, in other words, this space was built or filled solid with masonry, with the exception of air-passages through the same, for supplying the combustion-chamber. The course or direction of such sages, especially when nearing the combustion-chamber, was in a horizontal plane, with the result, so far as theypassed over the prod neer-arch at all, of being at varying distances from the Linder surface of such arch,.and not only would the air in such passages be unequally heated, but also the producer-arch itself, being backed with masonry of varying thickness, and being unequally subjected to the action of air in the passages or iiues above, would be rapidly worn or melted :away by the intense heat acting with greatest effect upon such parts of the arch as were backed most heavily or with partition-walls, and such destruction of a part of the arch required frequent renewal of the whole. This destructive action `of the heat upon the backed or covered `part of the arch is strikingly illustrated where a brick or largelump of clay is left or placed upon the dome or crown of a reverberatory glass-melting furnace. In such case the lire or heat will cut or melt out a depression or concavity in the dome beneath 'and corresponding in outline to such brick or lump 5 but `this destructive action ofthe heat is stillfurtheraccel` erated inthe old construction of furnace by reason of the fact that the partition-`walls between or.` around the air-fines acted as conductors to transmit the intense heat above the bench to the upper side ofthe producerarch, thus subjecting itto the destructive action of IOS the heatfboth on its Aupper and lower surfaces along theillines of such partition-walls.

A part of my invention relates to f'eatures of construction by means of which I obviate or avoid those objectionable features which have existed in prior furnaces of this class. This I do by making the producer-arches vD of substantially equal thickness throughout, so as to be acted on uniformly by the heat on the under side and the air above; also by means of the continuous or common air-chamber D2, which dispenses with the partition-walls above referred to, and the consequent unequal backing of the arches D. Also, such air-chamber serves as an insulator to arrest the passage or con! duction of heat from the bench to the upper surface of the producer-arches. It secures steady and uniform heating of the air to be supplied to the combustion-chamber. It affords a large area of contact-surface, whereby the air is brought to a very high temperature before entering the combustion-chamber, without, on the other hand, materially lesseningl the temperature within the producers, and yet affords uniform protection to the exposed part of the upper surfaces of arches D by preventing such arches from becoming so excessively hot as to be melted or worn away except after a comparatively long use. 1

- I do not wish, however, to limit this part of my invention to an air-chamber which shall 'extend entirely over the .whole of the upper surface of the producer-arches, as it obviously may extend over the greater part of such surface only, or over such part as is exposed to the greatest heat, in which case it need not extend entirely down to a horizontal' skewback, as shown, but may stop a little short of that point on an inclined skew-back 5 nor need it extend along the entire length of the arch D, but may stop a little short of the outer end, the heat at the extreme outer end notl usually being excessive.

Other features of my invention relate to the construction of the central pier, P, and the relation of its parts to the rest of the structure. Transversely across the pier I make an open arch, P', in order that air circulating freely therein may act to prevent the destructiveeffects of the heat on thewalls c and c.

- For convenience in building and supporting the arches D, I round off the corners of the pier, as shown at ct a, the curvature of the parts a being the same as that of the under side of the arches resting thereon. The arch may then be renewed without the necessary rebuilding of the pier; but in order to prevent the liability of a leak at the joint of the pier and arch. I carry up the central or inner portion of the pier straight, as shown at ct', so

that the flat vertical face a2 of such raised or squarely-built part shall furnish an abuttingface for the end of the arch and make a tight joint at that point.

The square shoulders a. also serve as skew backs for the small supplemental arches c2, Which span or cover the lines g at their opening into the combustion-chamber. The pur'- pose or function of thesearches 02is twofold: Being short and independently supported, they are less likely to be melted down by the intense heat which necessarily exists at that point, and if injured they can be renewed without tearing down the whole furnace or the arches D; also, they serve to support the center' of the side walls, c, of the combustionchamber. These walls c, together with the other two walls, c', are built up from and practically are a continuation of the central part of the pier. Fine-openings d', in any desired number, are made through these walls, as before described. The upper edges of these walls are rounded so as to conform to the under side of the upper arch, D', which is built over and covers the com busti oil-chamber, with the exception of the usual eye, g. y j

It should be noted that the air-chamber D2 extends entirely around the walls c c' of the combustion-chanuber, so that the air therein acts as a protective agent to such walls, in like manner as to the arches D; and, furthermore, as there are no flue-partition walls abutting against the sides of the combustion-chamber, they will withstand the action'of the heat much longer than they otherwise would do. Hence the action of the air as a protective agent is practically uniform, not only on the arches D, as already stated, but also on the walls c e'.

I am aware that an annular flue-ring has been made in the vertical walls of a combustion-chamber, with port-holes leading thence to the combustion-chamber; but I am not aware of any prior construction of furnace of this class in which the entire outer walls of the combustion-chamber were open to the protective effect of the air.

I claim herein as my inventionl. lnv combination with a gas-producer, a double arch covering the same and forming an intervening unbroken air-chamber, with inlet-ports d, for the supply of air, and exit- .ports d', leading thence to the combustionchamber, substantially as set forth.

2. An open chamber, D2, surrounding the vertical walls c c of the combustion-chamber, and with ports d'3 leading through such walls to the combustiouchamber, substantially as set forth.

3. In a gas producing and burning furnace,

a pier, l?, arched at its end, as at a, for an arch-support, and squarely built inside such end, as at a', for a support for the walls of the combustion-chamber, substantially as set forth.

4. The combination of pier I), supplemental arches c2, walls c and c', and arch or cover D with eye g', substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

JOSEPH J. GILL. Witnesses:

JAMES W. GILL, SPENGE WALLACE.

IOO

IIO 

